SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Like a skateboarder in a half-pipe, the discussion on the city's skate bowl went back and forth at the Tuesday night City Council meeting.

In the past month, the city's Safety Committee and Recreation Commission have both approved opening the skate bowl. The city council does not need to vote on opening the skate bowl according to Mayor Scott Johnson. "It has already gone through both committees that have control over it," he said.

The skate bowl was filled with dirt in 2010 after the city laid off personnel who monitored the park, and there were liability concerns over the lack of supervision. According to Johnson, the bowl was filled in so that it could, if things changed, be dug out.

Since then, things have changed.

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The city has cleared the issue with its insurance companies, and as long as there is clear signage indicating it is a skate-at-your-own-risk facility, it has no qualms with opening the bowl.

According to Accounts Commissioner John Franck, the school district, which owns the property, has indicated it will follow the city's lead on opening the skate bowl. "(Saratoga Springs City School District Superintendent Janice White) told me as far as she was concerned, the school had no problem with it," Franck said at the council meeting.

Charlie Samuels, the man who took up the skate bowl as his own crusade, calling it "the Holy Grail of skateboarding," may be near the end of his year-and-a-half-long struggle to dig out the bowl.

He approached the City Council Tuesday to urge them forward. "I won't be satisfied until I can see the drain in the bottom of that pool," he said.

Franck requested Public Works Commissioner Anthony "Skip" Scirocco have a backhoe and dump truck assist volunteer skateboarders who will be digging out the bowl this weekend, offering to pay for the assistance with money from the Accounts Department's budget.

Scirocco, though, said he wanted to have an engineer look at the bowl first. "Some people say take it out -- the dirt -- and some people say leave it in for the winter," Scirocco said. "I want an engineer to take a look at it before anyone touches anything."

Franck, though, did not accept that answer.

"I don't know how you assess the damage until it is dug out," Franck said. "All I'm asking is that you take the dirt out of the bowl, then we can see if there is damage."

The discussion went back and forth for about 20 minutes, with Franck saying there is no reason not to remove the dirt and Scirocco saying he wanted to have an engineer examine it first.

"I just want to go in there -- do some testing -- and see what the issue is," Scirocco said, adding there could be damage to the bowl. "If we take the dirt out and it is in need of repairs, the city is going to be on the hook for it."

Franck, though, said if there was irreparable damage, it could just be filled in again.

"Are you really serious? Just take the stupid dirt out," Franck told Scirocco at one point. "I don't think anyone understands what you are talking about. It's idiotic."

Finally, the mayor intervened.

He asked Scirocco to have the city engineer examine the bowl this week and to then talk to Franck and Samuels, which he agreed to.